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N-Able Passportal Review: Pros & Cons, Features, Ratings, Pricing and more
2:49 pm | October 31, 2022

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

N-Able Passportal, previously known as SolarWinds Passportal, is rated among the best password managers across the web.  

No matter what brand you know it as, though, there’s lots to like about Passportal. It’s a powerful yet intuitive program aimed at high-end business users, and it comes with a selection of impressive features to make business password management fast and straightforward.

We’ve dug deep to see if Passportal should be added to your organization’s IT portfolio – and we’ve explored our other favorite business password managers here.

N-Able Passportal: Plans and pricing

Unfortunately, N-Able doesn’t openly advertise the prices of its Passportal password management software. It’s available as a stand-alone product or as part of a larger N-Able and SolarWinds software package, but you will have to contact the sales team to get a custom quote.

However, a free trial is available on request, so you can test the program before committing to a purchase. What’s more, online reports suggest that prices start from a relatively affordable $18 / £18 / AUD$25 per user, per month.

While we can’t confirm this, and the company’s media contact did not respond to our request for more information, if the reports are at least vaguely true, they make N-Able Passportal one of the most expensive password managers around, so it has high expectations to meet up to.

Despite the lack of surface-level transparency, N-Able Passportal has amassed around 165,000 SMB clients and retains 3 million assets. The company, which devolved from SolarWinds in July 2021, now offers a broad range of managed services like remote monitoring and management tools, a cloud backup tool, and endpoint protection including AI ransomware detection, so it’s clear that you’re in safe hands with a company that’s exceptionally experienced in cybersecurity. 

N-Able Passportal: Interface and performance

N-Able Passportal is backed by an impressive range of features that put it up there with the best business password management software on the market.

For one, all users will have access to highly functional browser extensions. These are available for Chrome, Firefox, and various other popular browsers, and they provide impressive password management tools at the click of a button.

Passportal also comes with a highly secure password generator. It enables you to create custom passwords when required and can even be set to change multiple passwords at once.

As the system administrator, you can create clear user permissions that specify who within your organization is allowed to access what passwords. This is done through a folder system, where different passwords are stored in different folders. Then, you can simply set access permissions to these folders. What’s more, if someone feels like they need to use a password that they don’t have permission for, they can simply request access via their dashboard.

If you take care of password management for clients, you can rebrand the Passportal interface with your own logo and branding. This allows you to provide high-quality, secure password management services under your own business name.

The Passportal user interface is neat and intuitive, but at the same time, superbly detailed. Menu buttons across the top of the screen allow you to view notifications, access your saved passwords, and review management history. You can also search for various passwords or access credentials, add new login details, or edit existing entries.

As the system administrator, you will also be able to manage access permissions and users via the menu on the left of the screen. Ordinary users will only have access to the My Vault and Company Vault portals, which are used to store and manage personal and company credentials respectively.

There is actually a mobile app, but it’s clearly a work in progress and lacks the polish of the online service. It’s unclear whether N-Able will continue to work on the app, or whether it has decided that its target customers are enterprises that don’t really deal with apps, anyway. Regardless, security updates are frequent enough, which is what you would expect and hope of a cybersecurity-first company. 

There’s no mention of passkeys on the N-Able site, which would be a minor cause for concern if it were a regular, consumer-facing password manager. With passkeys becoming more common and wider iOS and Android support coming later in 2023, websites are beginning to allow consumers to use passkeys.

However, businesses are still likely to use a combination of regular login methods with two-factor authentication (2FA) and single sign-on which allows them to log in with one master account, thus reducing or completely eliminating the need for a password manager. Ultimately, passkeys are in their infancy and it’s likely to take a long time for them to gain any form of momentum in business circles.

N-Able Passportal: Security

Like all the best password managers, N-Able Passportal is backed by a selection of powerful security features. For one, it uses secure, cloud-based hosting through the Amazon Web Services platform. This highly redundant and scalable system ensures you always have access to your passwords and other credentials.

All data is backed up with a point-in-time recovery system to secure servers. With this system, your information can be restored to any point in the past three months. The entire Passportal system is proactively monitored for vulnerabilities and security breaches, and any threats deemed serious are dealt with on a priority basis.

What’s more, because N-Able Passportal is designed specifically with reasonably large businesses in mind, it has exceptional user management options to help mitigate turnover-related threats.

N-Able Passportal: Support

Various support services are on offer to help you familiarize yourself with Passportal. All subscribers will be able to contact the customer support team via live chat, ticket submission, and phone. Before you subscribe, you will only have access to phone support, which is still reasonable.

What’s more, various self-help resources help you get started with the program. The N-Able Customer Success Center contains tutorials, how-to guides, and comprehensive documentation. In addition, the company’s YouTube channel has some great videos outlining the functionality and setup procedures for Passportal.

Still, there’s a lot more information about the device management and endpoint protection services than there is about the password manager, which seems to take a back seat. We would like to see some more proactive support, and particularly some more transparency around pricing.

N-Able Passportal: The competition

Dashlane is an incredibly popular password manager among consumers and businesses alike. With extremely secure password management solutions, AES 256-bit encryption, and a powerful central management console, it’s a great choice for those looking for a highly functional and reliable program. And it comes in at a competitively price per user.

Another great option is LastPass, which is backed by advanced administrative controls and multi-factor authentication. 

If you’re after self-hosting options, you should consider Bitwarden which has proven itself a very secure password manager regardless of hosting choice. Opting for self-hosting, though, allows companies to store passwords behind firewalls and proxies in a location they know and trust.

N-Able Passportal: Final verdict

N-ABle Passportal is one of the most powerful password management programs we’ve used. It has a number of advanced features, supports administrative control of large teams, and boasts powerful security integrations.

On top of this, Passportal comes with great customer support, an intuitive user interface, and the power of the rest of the N-Able and SolarWinds ecosystem (if required).

The bottom line: If you’re looking for a high-quality, reliable password management solution for your business, we’d highly recommend looking closer at N-Able Passportal.

We've also featured the best password recovery software.

Keeper Review: Pros & Cons, Features, Ratings, Pricing and more
2:18 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

Keeper Password Manager is considered one of the best password managers out there, and for good reason. Keeper is one of the most respected names in the security business, and this app places a big emphasis on helping companies keep sensitive data on lockdown – so you’d hope their security situation is up to snuff.

Happily, Keeper’s website boasts of some pretty impressive security credentials, with zero-knowledge design, high-end security auditing, market-leading encryption and impressive features elsewhere.

Beyond that, Keeper deploys powerful admin tools, great sharing options and remote access, so it could be a top-notch option for any business that wants a fully-featured password management system. There’s more information about business password protection, too, from our-round up of the best business password managers.

Keeper: Plans and pricing

On the business front, SMBs should be catered for by the Keeper Business Plan at $3.75 / £4 / AUD$7 per user/month. The basic plan includes user password management, while administrators can manage user groups, enforce policies, and perform security audits. Enterprise plans, which need a custom quote, add support for single-sign-on authentication, automated team management, and advanced provisioning methods.

Additionally, you can add custom modules with additional features. These include the advanced reporting module for $10 / £10 / AUD$15 user/year, compliance reporting for the same price, file storage and sharing starting at $125 / £110 / AUD$190 year, dedicated onboarding and training for $750 / £650 / AUD$1,250 per year, dark web breach scanning for $20/user/year, and ultra-secure messaging for $20 / £20 / AUD$30 per user a year.

The company also recently released a Business Starter Plan for teams of between five and 10, as it hopes to break into a market of smaller startups. This costs $2 / £2 / AUD$3 per user/month.

For individuals, meanwhile, the Keeper Personal plan is available for just $2.92 / £3 / AUD$5 a month which supports unlimited passwords on an unlimited number of devices for an individual user. As with the business plan, you can pay extra for different modules – in this case secure file storage and the BreachWatch alerting system. There’s also the five-user Family Plan available for $6.25 / £6 / AUD$9 a month and has five private vaults.

Unfortunately, there’s no free plan for individuals or businesses, however if you're keen to keep costs down (and who isn't?), take a look at the Keeper Security promo codes currently available. 

Besides seasonal promo codes, students are eligible for 50% off Keeper, while the military, first responders, nurses, doctors, and hospital employees can all unlock 30% off the regular price.

Keeper: Setup

It’s clear that Keeper’s developers put a lot of thought into its business products. Mass distribution is made easier thanks to command-line installation on Windows, while desktop and mobile apps and browser extensions are very easy to install. Most users will have themselves up and running in a matter of minutes.

Initial administrative setup will obviously take longer, but much thought has gone into streamlining this process, with multiple methods for bulk-importing users, like email auto-provisioning based on domain name, SSO, or API/SDK. After spending some time setting up various teams and roles, you need only add users as appropriate.

If you’re moving from another password manager, you can also import your existing credentials. This includes from browser-based systems like Google Password Manager and Edge Password Manager, as well as popular rival companies like LastPass and 1Password. Being a password manager aimed at businesses, it also supports importing from other business-focused alternatives like Zoho Vault and RoboForm.

Keeper Password Manager in use

(Image credit: Keeper)

Keeper: Interface and performance

Each user has their own encrypted vault for storing passwords, credential, and information, accessible through any number of desktop, mobile, and online apps. All the password management basics are here: a password generator or strong and unique passwords, identity management and payment information, and access to shared passwords. However, identity information for form filling is a bit limited, as you can’t create your own fields or add multiple addresses.

Administrators can easily manage multiple users, who can be assigned roles and divided into teams. Passwords, folders, and subfolders can be shared with individual users, teams, or roles, with the ability to disable password re-sharing, editing, or even viewing, while enforcement policies ensure everybody in your company is using or generating strong passwords. There is also an Admin Console for monitoring and managing Keeper across the organization. This can also help to enforce the use of best security practices like 2FA, and password security.

The app interface is intuitive and easy to use, with tabs for passwords, identities, security audit, and BreachWatch. In-browser password autofill and form-filling are well executed, with tabs for entering a password, address, or card information. It’s also great to see a separate area dedicated to IDs like driver’s licenses and passports, in an era when identities are both in regular use and targeted by criminals. Being able to call on passport information to book a flight can be much easier digitally than having to retrieve the physical passport, especially when you’re away from home.

The admin interface is equally agreeable to use, with a Dashboard that gives you a quick overview of user activity and any security issues, and an Admin tab for managing users, roles, teams, two-factor authentication, and provisioning. If you’ve paid for additional modules, you’ll have access to the Security Audit, BreachWatch, and Reporting & Alerts to manage these features. Everything is also clean and well laid out.

Platform support is good, too. Keeper works on Windows 7 and above, some of the most recent macOS versions, and popular Linux distros like Fedora, Red Hat, CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, and Mint. There’s also iOS and Android support, and a password-filling extension that works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Brave, and Opera. The main app can also run directly in your browser. That command-line installation is a boon, and the only thing missing here is functionality on only the most obscure browsers.

Some mobile users will be pleased to see that Keeper also has an Apple Watch app for on-the-go monitoring and quick access to things like notes of combination lock codes. In fact, if you’re really bored, you can use Keeper’s lock-shaped emoji stickers in iMessage chat. While this is totally pointless and nothing more than a gimmick, it’s really enlightening to see a company that’s dedicated to as many platforms and services as Keeper - very few come anywhere near.

Keeper: Passkeys

While Keeper may not have the heavy-hitting name and advertising budget that more well-known alternatives have, it’s not short of investment in the latest technologies. Already, Keeper has become an early adopted of passkeys and is actually one of the best sources of information on them, with an entire page dedicated to the websites that currently support the passwordless login method.

While Keeper supports passkeys in some instances, including the browser extension, it’s currently waiting for Android 14 and iOS 17 to enable third-party access later this year. In other words, Keeper is doing everything technically possible to let you store your passkeys in its vault.

A specific page has been set up for FAQs and more information on the timeline of passkeys.

Keeper: Security

Security is first and foremost at Keeper. First of all, it’s a zero-knowledge company that undergoes regular SOC 2 and ISO 27001 auditing. It also meets US and EU directives on data protection. Encryption is done on the fly and at device level, with AES 256-bit and PBKDF2 encryption, so no readable information is ever kept on Keeper’s servers.

Admins have full control over which users can access what information and for how long, so there’s no risk of an employee keeping any information after leaving your company, while BreachWatch continuously watches for leaked passwords, and a secure file storage system helps keep your most sensitive documents safe.

Keeper: Support

Keeper comes with great support for businesses. Not only can you benefit from onboarding and training for the whole team, but the support center features a very rich knowledge base with plenty of videos and articles that balance depth and accessibility.

Chat support is available 24/7, which is great for businesses, while phone support is available 10AM–5PM CST. We were a little confused by the online chat, which didn’t tell us if we’d been connected to somebody or how long we might have to wait, although somebody did get back to us within two minutes.

Personal users don’t get the same support as the business clientele. There is no direct phone number, nor an email, but rather they need to go through the support portal. They still have access to all the articles and videos on the self-support side, such as step-by-step guides for installing Keeper on each web browser and supported platform.

Keeper: The competition

There are a number of good password managers out there for businesses. Dashlane has a similar business offering, but includes dark web monitoring at a cheaper price than Keeper Business and its BreachWatch. This is a good solution if you don’t need Keeper’s advanced user management. Alternatively, LastPass includes support for Opera and doesn’t make you pay extra for secure file storage. 

Then, there are the do-it-alls. If you’re already using Zoho for its other online collaboration tools, then you may want to stick to having everything under the same roof and opt for Zoho Vault.

Keeper: Final verdict

Keeper offers industry-leading security with a simple interface that both end-users and IT managers will find easy and enjoyable to use. Pricing is broadly in line with industry standards, although additional features like BreachWatch and onboarding can significantly increase the yearly invoice. Nonetheless, for managing passwords and sensitive information across various teams and roles, Keeper is hard to beat. That, coupled with its clear ambition to stay with the trends (as is the case with passkeys) makes it a solid choice for any type of consumer. 

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LogMeOnce Review: Pros & Cons, Features, Ratings, Pricing and more
2:18 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

LogMeOnce is, without a doubt, one of the best password managers we’ve seen. Most password managers offer the same core features, from autofill to secure password generation, but LogMeOnce goes beyond other apps thanks to its impressive range of advanced abilities.

Sign up to LogMeOnce and you’ll be able to use QR code logins, facial recognition, and cloud storage encryption, and security comes from military-standard encryption and security options along a wide range of multi-factor options.

With a free version and a range of plans at decent prices, LogMeOnce might seem too good to be true – so we’ve tested this software to deliver the real verdict.

LogMeOnce: Plans and pricing

There are three LogMeOnce business plans on offer, with prices ranging from $3 / £3 / AUD$5 user/month to $7 / £7 / AUD$10 user/month. All plans come with a 14-day free trial and you don’t need to use a credit or debit card to give it a go.

The cheapest Team & Business plan includes a range of advanced features such as a dedicated vault for each user, a centralized admin panel, unlimited device access, and secure sharing tools. Even on this lower end of the scale, there’s support for single sign-on (SSO) which is typically reserved for the most expensive plan, so businesses looking for a well-rounded password manager would do well to shortlist LogMeOnce. There’s even support for custom branding, alongside priority technical support.

The Enterprise plan includes everything in the Team & Business plan, 1GB of encrypted storage, and a real-time administrative dashboard. User provisioning is made easier than there’s Active Directory integration.

Finally, the Identity and Password Manager plan adds a selection of tools, including MFA authentication, IP address restriction, device whitelisting, dark web monitoring, and leaked password monitoring.

There are also four personal/family plans that start at the free tier, which is confusingly named Premium. It promises to be free forever, and supports unlimited passwords and two-factor authentication (2FA).

The Professional plan adds 1GB of encrypted storage, secure notes, and credit cards, while the Ultimate plan upgrades storage to 10GB and rounds it up with anti-theft protection.

At the top of the personal plans is the Family tier, which is $4.99/ £5 / AUD$8 per month for a family of up to six. It offers everything that Ultimate does, but for more users.

There are various paid add-ons, including dark web monitoring (individually and for families) and cyber threat monitoring. While they’re by no means services to replace the best identity theft protection tools, they certainly go some way to protecting your online presence for a very reasonable cost.

LogMeOnce apps

(Image credit: LogMeOnce)

LogMeOnce: Setup

Setting up your LogMeOnce account is extremely straightforward and shouldn’t take more than a minute or two. Simply select the plan you want and follow the prompts to install the relevant browser extension. Browser support is good, with extensions available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Still, you’ll find better support for more niche browsers elsewhere.

Install the extension and download another small app and you’ll be ready to go – and then you’re able to access LogMeOnce’s main web interface.

Login details and other information can be manually added or imported from an existing password manager. A detailed quick-start guide is available to guide you through the entire process.

LogMeOnce: Interface and performance

It’s a well-designed bit of software. The main dashboard offers quick access to your passwords, secure notes and wallet, secure file storage, and dark web monitoring. You’ll also find quick links for your security evaluation and two-factor authentication settings.

The right-hand side has your Daily Journal, which summarizes your current password situation – a smooth feature that allows you to instantly see which areas need attention. There’s also the Identity Scorecard, which presents a quick security evaluation.

Head into different sections and at the bottom of the screen you’ll get a dock that opens more configuration options. Anyone who’s used a PC or Mac will be familiar with the setup – it works like a taskbar.

On top of this, the browser extension is very impressive. It includes quick links to all your saved websites, and logging in is as simple as clicking on the icon for the site you want to access. The mobile apps are equally powerful, and they performed very well on every device we tested them on.

One thing worth noting is that, although LogMeOnce is just as capable as other password managers, the user interface suggests otherwise. The mobile apps are particularly troubling, and have collected a handful of negative reviews accordingly. This, along with the limited browser extension support, put it one or two paces behind most other options.

LogMeOnce is also yet to announce any plans to adopt passkeys, which promise to revolutionize the way we log into websites. Promising the ultimate, passwordless security, passkeys have so far been slow to take off, and for all we know, LogMeOnce could just be waiting to see how it pans out, and whether it represents a worthwhile investment. Nevertheless, there’s no mention of passkeys anywhere on the company’s site.

LogMeOnce security

(Image credit: LogMeOnce)

LogMeOnce: Security

Like all good password managers, LogMeOnce is backed by powerful security features. This includes AES 256-bit encryption compliant with NIST guidelines and communication to the LogMeOnce server via SSL/TSL encrypted tunnel communication. In fact, it goes one step further than most of its competitors, with a range of patented and copyrighted tools to further protect your sensitive information.

Along with encryption and master password access, LogMeOnce also comes with PasswordLess login, powerful two-factor authentication (2FA), and anti-theft tools. Custom security solutions are also available for business users with highly sensitive data.

There are loads of multi-factor authentication options available here. You’ve got biometrics, PIN codes, secure devices, and even the option to login with a selfie. Beyond that, you can also turn a USB drive into an authentication token.

Elsewhere, LogMeOnce has options to wipe devices in emergencies, remind you to reset passwords after specified amounts of time, secure browsing and document storage and secure backup modules. Users also benefit from secure sharing options and auto-login single sign-on settings.

LogMeOnce: Support

LogMeOnce has a range of customer support and self-help options to draw on if you run into trouble. The main website features a chatbot that will guide you to articles or help you submit a support ticket. Tickets can also be logged directly from your management dashboard or the online portal. We feel that real-time support could be improved - there are no phone lines and emails aren’t always the quickest way to get to the bottom of something.

LogMeOnce: The competition

LogMeOnce is a genuinely good password manager, but there are a couple of powerful alternatives worth considering, especially if you can’t look the increasingly dated UI.

For example, LastPass has long been a leading password management program backed by very advanced features. It includes secure multi-factor authentication, has over 1,200 pre-integrated apps, and comes with a selection of advanced administration controls for IT managers and other tech professionals. Additionally, pricing is quite comparable. 

If you’re really going down the business security route, Bitwarden offers self-hosting so that businesses can keep passwords stored in a secure and trusted location, even behind their own firewalls and proxies.

LogMeOnce: Final verdict

LogMeOnce is up there with the absolute best password management programs we’ve used in terms of functionality. It’s extremely affordable, comes with advanced tools designed for business users, and is backed by a range of powerful features.

On top of this, it’s easy to set up and is compatible with most common web browsers, devices, and operating systems. Also, security tools and customer support resources are comprehensive with an extensive library of articles and even videos. 

That said, the product’s design could do with quite a significant overhaul, which is most notable on the apps. In theory, this shouldn’t take away from the abilities of the password manager, but failure to keep up-to-date with design could suggest diminishing developer resources. Furthermore, when we attempted to contact LogMeOnce’s press department, we were met with radio silence.

Ultimately, we’d recommend LogMeOnce for anyone who’s looking for a powerful, versatile password management solution backed by advanced features.

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T3 Fit review
6:30 pm | October 28, 2022

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Hair Care Home Small Appliances | Comments: Off

• Original review date: October 2022
• Still T3s foremost compact dryer
• Launch price:  $119.99 / £130
• Official price now:  $149.99 / £130

Updated: February 2024. The T3 Fit remains the brand's premiere compact hair dryer, though in the US its price did increase a little. Compact hair dryers aren't the most fast-moving sub-section of haircare tech, so it's still one of the best hair dryers you can buy for its size. The rest of this review remains unchanged.

One-minute review

The T3 Fit stands out as one of our best hair dryer favorites as a result of its light and compact design. And, in fact, it’s just one model in a range of stylish hair tools from US-based company, T3. Starting out in 2003 as a “part tech start-up, part beauty venture”, T3 currently sells a wide range of hair gadgets and technologies that have been mindfully designed to enhance your hair-styling experience. Choose from hair dryers, flat irons, curling irons and other useful and coveted styling tools. 

The T3 Fit compact hair dryer arrived in February 2021, and while it isn’t the most recent launch, it remains a popular choice for those in the know as a result of its lightweight yet powerful design. T3 has since launched the equally stylish-looking T3 Afar in January 2022, which is even lighter in weight and comes with a stowaway folding handle that makes it perfect for travel. Meanwhile, the T3 AireLuxe is the latest hair dryer from T3, launching back in April 2022; it champions 15 heat and speed settings to make it ideal for every hair type. 

 The T3 Fit is designed to be 30% smaller and 20% lighter than a full-size T3 hair dryer, while remaining powerful in performance. On board the T3 Fit is all the impressive technology you’d expect from a standard hair dryer. It features IonAir technology for the delivery of a wide, ion-infused airstream for drying hair gently and quickly. Plus, its Ion Generator saturates the airflow with negative ions to achieve a smooth and shiny finish; we noticed just how well this works on frizzy hair. While the control buttons aren’t the smoothest to operate and feel a little clumsy design-wise, we enjoyed using the T3 Fit because of its comfortable handle, quiet operation, balanced airflow and lightweight design. In short, we think it’s best suited to those who want the power of a standard hair dryer in a more compact form. 

T3 Fit price and availability

  • List price: $119.99 / £130 

At the time of writing, T3 hair dryers and styling tools can be bought online in the US and UK, with the T3 Fit model costing US $119.99/£130.  

We feel this is a fair price for a hair dryer that delivers all the functionality of a full-size hair dryer, but in a more compact form. Also, in terms of style, T3’s products look and feels premium, with the brand offering all of its best-selling hair dryers at reasonable sub-$221/£200 prices. In comparison, you can expect to pay around $210/£189 for the popular GHD Helios, and from $354/£320 for the Dyson Supersonic.  

Price & availability score: 5
 

T3 Fit design

  •  Lightweight at 400g 
  •  Compact form makes it great for travel  
  •  Easy-to-navigate controls 

The T3 Fit’s design looks and feels luxurious, with the hair dryer arriving neatly presented in a white box. Inside the box you’ll find it sits alongside a single concentrator nozzle, and if you’ve opted to buy it with its compatible diffuser, this will come in a separate box. There’s also a great range of accessories you can choose from in the T3 range, including a smooth paddle brush, clip kit and absorbent luxe turban towel.

T3 Fit hair dryer in box

(Image credit: Future)

We like the streamlined styling of the T3, which is finished in a shiny gloss white with rose gold accents. It’s also available in an attractive graphite finish, should you prefer. While it feels nice to hold and compact in hand, its shiny surface makes it slightly slippery to hold when styling with waxy hands. Unlike some hair dryers whose controls are flush with the handle, the T3 Fit controls jut out slightly. Although this makes it not as streamlined in style as some well-known hair dryers we’ve tried, it does make the T3 Fit easy to control.

T3 Fit has rose gold accents

(Image credit: Future)

The most enticing features of the T3 Fit design are its size and weight, which makes it instantly attractive for those who’d like a hair dryer for taking on their travels, or are simply short on storage space at home. It’s 20% lighter and 30% smaller than the full-size T3 AireLuxe, for example, yet it comes with equally impressive technology to style hair with impressive results.  

At 400kg, the T3 Fit proves a great tool for those with long or dense hair that takes time to dry; it will limit any arm ache you might suffer with extended use – something hair stylists will tell you is a big bug bear. 

Note that the T3 Fit’s head is shorter and chunkier than the sleeker, full-size T3 AirLuxe hairdryer; in fact, the T3 Fit is surprisingly similar in size to the Dyson Supersonic. However, while it’s lighter than the Dyson Supersonic, which comes in at 660g, the T3 Fit isn’t the lightest hair dryer on the market. For a full-size hair dryer of lighter weight, check out the Parlux Digitalyon Light Air Ionizer.

Setting up the T3 Fit

(Image credit: Future)

Setting up the T3 Fit for use was simply a matter of plugging it in and we were good to go. Its long 9ft cord enabled us to move around freely, while the hair dryer’s controls are conveniently positioned on the handle and click securely when pressed, with no possibility of accidentally knocking the settings while in use. The concentrator nozzle proved a little fiddly to attach to the head of the hair dryer at first, but once we’d discovered how it fixes in place, through the alignment of arrows, we were able to interchange between the concentrator nozzle and the diffuser attachment with ease.

Design score: 4.5/5

T3 Fit performance

  •  Gentle, yet powerful, airstream  
  •  Ion generator to encourage a smooth and shiny finish 
  •  Great for blowouts  

The great thing about the T3 Fit is that while it’s small in size, it has all the power and performance you’d expect of a standard-size model. At 1600 watts, and with two speed settings and three heat settings, it has been designed to tackle a range of hair types – from poker straight to hair with Type 4 curl patterns – through delivery of a steady and gentle airstream.

It’s the hair dryer’s Ion Generator that saturates airflow with negative ions to help reduce frizz and encourage shine, while IonAir technology ensures hair is dried at speed yet gently. Having used the T3 Fit, we could definitely feel the benefits of its built-in technology compared to rival brands, which can often feel too fast and too hot.  

Using the T3 to dry long, wavy hair that’s prone to frizz with even the slightest hint of outdoor humidity, we were impressed at how quickly it dried the hair – inside five minutes. We felt the benefits of the steady airflow of this hairdryer at both speed settings and on all three heat settings. In fact, even when we used the T3 Fit at its top settings, the hair dryer never became too hot nor did it blast out air too powerfully. The result was smoother hair that was less fluffy in texture than it is when dried with other well-known hair dryers. 

We used a large round brush to blow out our hair, too, and liked that it made hair feel thick and weighty, with a good bounce and shine. The results on shorter styles were equally impressive, with the T3 taking under three minutes to completely dry a head of shorter hair. 

Note that while the hair dryer didn’t ever become too hot, nor was the cool shot all that cold; we were expecting a much cooler blast of air than it delivered. In addition, we noticed that when the cool shot was pressed, while it did reduce the power and heat of the hairdryer, it took a little longer than we’d like to get cooler.  

Thankfully, the T3 Fit is reasonably quiet in operation. We used a decibel meter app to measure noise levels, with it coming in at 85dB on its highest setting and 77dB on its lowest setting. To put this into context, we’ve previously tried far noisier hair dryers that emit around 90dB of noise. Since the T3 Fit doesn’t become too hot nor too loud, it’s a good option for use on children’s hair as well, making it a good buy for all the family. 

Performance score: 4.5/5

T3 Fit comparison with other compact hair dryers

A comparison of compact hairdryers, from left to right: Parlux, T3 Fit and Dyson Supersonic (Image credit: Future)

T3 score card

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  • First reviewed: October 2022
Bitwarden Review: Pros & Cons, Features, Ratings, Pricing and more
1:37 pm | October 27, 2022

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

Bitwarden takes a different approach to most password manager tools – because it’s released under the open source license.

Its open-source status doesn’t just mean that, either. That designation means that people can view, access, and contribute to the app’s development. When you want an app to be secure and transparent about the way it works, that can only bode well for Bitwarden’s effectiveness.

There’s more to like about this app beyond it being open source. Bitwarden promises easy, powerful security within minutes, unlimited password and device support, and secure, encrypted sharing.

Need more advice on passwords? Then look no further than our reviews of the best password managers. And if you need some help with images, take a look at our coverage of best password recovery software.

Bitwarden features

Bitwarden’s business plans are packed with useful features for larger companies. (Image credit: Bitwarden )

Bitwarden: Plans and pricing

There’s plenty of variety when it comes to Bitwarden’s products. On the personal side of things, the firm offers a free version, a premium individual plan that costs just $10 / £10 / AUD$15 per year, and a family package for six users with a $40 / £40 / AUD$60 annual price.

For many, the free version will be more than sufficient, because it supports an unlimited number of passwords and device syncing. Typically, rival companies’ free plans limit users to just one active device, so this is a real selling point for Bitwarden. Sharing passwords is also included in the free plan, as is a password generator and support for email aliases.

Upgrading to the $10 / £10 / AUD$15 per year Premium plan adds emergency access, advanced 2FA, an authentication module and security reporting alongside priority customer support. Paying customers can also send encrypted files, which is good for sharing sensitive information like bank statements and bills.

The family plan includes up to six separate users, unlimited sharing and collections, and improved storage organization, which makes it easier to manage all of the passwords associated with business households. It also includes all of the features you’ll get with the individual Premium account. Whether you need a more advanced plan for yourself or the whole family, these two paid plans are packed with features at a really attractive price point.

For companies, the Team Organization plan costs $3 / £3 / AUD$5 per user per month. It includes a wealth of added features such as user groups and API access – and you get better logging and unlimited sharing, too. You’ll get all of this with the Enterprise plan, which costs $5 / £5 / AUD$8 per user per month, alongside custom roles, SSO integration, in-depth admin options, and self-host settings. 

Bitwarden installation

Bitwarden’s installation process is one of the simplest you’ll find. (Image credit: Bitwarden )

Bitwarden: Setup

Don’t worry when confronted with Bitwarden’s open-source status – installation couldn’t be easier. Download the app, create an account with your master password, and you’ll be ready to go.

Bitwarden has superb platform support, too. There are Windows, macOS, and Linux desktop clients, and the extensions are built for every major browser like Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge – alongside more obscure options like Vivaldi, Brave, Tor and Opera. Bitwarden is also currently testing a DuckDuckGo for Mac extension as if support wasn’t good enough already. For mobile users, the iOS app is accompanied by a watchOS app for Apple Watch users, and Android users are also catered for. Bitwarden supports command line usage and can also be accessed directly on the web.

Bitwarden web application

All of Bitwarden’s features can be administered in the web application (Image credit: Bitwarden )

Bitwarden: Interface and performance

Bitwarden’s basic plans focus on the meat of password management, but even the free plans include multi-device sync, optional self-hosting, and unlimited cloud storage.

Premium plans include reports on your passwords that highlight weak passwords and unsecured websites. Also, advanced features are added, such as two-factor authentication (2FA) and emergency access. A Data Breach Report can tell you whether an email address has been compromised in a known data breach.

Bitwarden has a sleek, straightforward interface that allows users to easily search and access their passwords and secure data. And while it’s not as slick-looking as some other tools, that doesn’t really matter when the app’s functionality is more important.

While there are desktop clients for viewing and editing credentials and checking other account information, most will rarely use them in favor of the extensions that serve the password manager’s primary function: to automatically fill out login details and capture new ones.

Adding a new item is as easy as filling in a simple form, and you can attach notes and custom fields to each entry for total personalization.

We prefer using the web app, as it still includes complex authentication options and access to reports. The browser extension resembles the web app and includes a password generator, which makes using the password manager on the fly even easier.

Bitwarden includes plenty of features to make life easier. It automatically fills forms, quickly syncs passwords and data across devices, and tests your passwords for strength levels. Like many other apps, it monitors your password vault and lets you know if your information has been exposed in a security breach.

The web portal and apps come into their own when it’s time to access the other types of information stored in the vault. Saved payment details work with autofill, but you’ll need to log in to find identity information like driver’s licenses and passports. This can be really handy when you’re booking travels, so long as you know where your passport is when the time comes to board the plane!

Bitwarden source code available on GitHub

Bitwarden’s entire source code is available on GitHub and the developers invite security researchers to test for security breaches. (Image credit: Bitwarden )

Bitwarden: Passkeys

Bitwarden has announced that passkey support is coming in the summer of 2023, so it should be just around the corner. It works both ways, which means users will soon be able to set up a passkey for their Bitwarden account to skip the master password stage.

Most importantly, third-party sites that support passkeys can be added to the extension or app. Upon creation, Bitwarden recognizes the passkey and offers to save it. We asked Bitwarden when passkey support would arrive, but the company declined to comment.

Bitwarden: Security

It’s got a robust slate of security features, too. Your Bitwarden vault is secured with AES-256 encryption and your master password is never sent to Bitwarden – so there’s no chance of a breach from Bitwarden’s side of things.

Besides using Bitwarden’s own servers to keep your passwords online, so that you can access them from anywhere, you can also opt for self-hosting. This is designed primarily with businesses in mind, who can apply their own firewalls, proxies, and other services to maintain optimal security and compliance, keeping passwords inside their trusted infrastructure.

Bitwarden’s security measures go beyond zero-knowledge encryption, too. The app’s open source status means its source code is available online, resulting in more scrutiny from security experts – so problems get sorted in a timely fashion.

Bitwarden: Customer support

Bitwarden help center

Bitwarden has a useful help center and you can email the developers for support (Image credit: Bitwarden )

Bitwarden is an active open-source project, so there’s plenty of support in the form of an online community, tutorials, a knowledge base, and forums. Every common feature has a well-written tutorial and the user forums, while basic, are active and helpful.

You can even email the developers for support via an online support portal, with Premium subscribers getting priority. It’s impressive for an open-source project like Bitwarden to have the level of customer support that rivals commercial products. The only thing missing is phone support – that would have been a welcome addition, especially for business customers.

Unlike most other companies, because Bitwarden’s individual developers all have their own preferences, many of them are happy to interact with customers on other platforms, like Reddit and Twitter. These aren’t considered official help channels as such, but sometimes they’re a way to get a more authentic, personalized response.

Besides troubleshooting, the company’s blog is generally a good place to visit now and again to check for content relating to up-and-coming features, or just to alert you of something you might not have known such as how to create secure passwords.

Bitwarden: The competition

If you’re willing to spend a little more, Dashlane adds identity theft protection to the mix. This adds credit monitoring, identity restoration support, and identity theft insurance that covers you up to $1 million should the occasion occur. Another paid password manager with more features than Bitwarden is LastPass

If you have a specific feature or trait in mind, you may want to consider alternative avenues. For example, KeePass is another open-source password manager, while the likes of iCloud Keychain and Google Password Manager are among a growing number of services with support for passkeys.

Bitwarden: Final verdict

There’s lots to like about Bitwarden. It’s got rock-solid security options bolstered by the app’s open-source status. It works with virtually every device and browser you could think of – so it’s impressively versatile too.

When it comes to features this app ticks every mainstream box and it’s easy to use, even if it’s missing out on some of the slick design and high-end ability you’ll find elsewhere. But that's not a big issue when it’s got a tempting free product, good pricing on all of its paid options, and solid open-source security. 

We've also featured the best business password managers.

LastPass Review: Pros & Cons, Features, Ratings, Pricing and more
1:36 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

There aren’t many bigger names in password management than LastPass. This hugely popular app is powered by LogMeIn, which is one of the world’s largest SaaS companies, and it’s been around since 2008. Yet, despite its serious business-focused background and impressive credentials, it still serves as a legitimately good proposition for individuals, too.

There are some compelling reasons for LastPass’s enviable success. It’s got good security policies and best-in-class features, including easy sharing and impressive password-generation modules, and it also includes dark web monitoring and biometric login. It’s also among a growing number of password managers to be adding support for passkeys.

It’s certainly not the only app to offer these abilities, though, so LastPass will have to impress if it wants to maintain its place in our round-up of the best password managers as well as best business password managers.

LastPass pricing August 2023

(Image credit: LastPass)

LastPass: Plans and pricing

Unlike most password managers, LastPass offers two distinct products for those looking to secure and automate password and credential management for their businesses. The first is the Teams plan, which costs $4 / £4 / AUD$6 per user/month. It offers a vault for every user, 2FA, a security dashboard, and Dark Web monitoring, but is restricted to 50 users or less.

The upgrade plan is the Enterprise plan that costs $6 / $6 / AUD$9 per user/month which can support an unlimited number of users, and includes all the Teams plan features. This plan also adds over 100 customizable policies, 3 SSO apps with MFA, and 1,200+ pre-integrated SSO apps.

The multi-factor authentication or MFA plan, however, is less a password management service and more a multi-factor, biometric credential solution for businesses. This plan is an add-on that costs an additional $3 / £3 / AUD$5 user/month.

There are also individual plans that start with a free tier that’s limited to one device per month. It has dark web monitoring, sharing, and all the other features you would expect, but that device limit will see many people needing to upgrade.

Pay $3 / £3 / AUD$5 for the Premium option and you can add access across all of your devices, emergency access, and 1GB of encrypted file storage. There’s also a $4 / £4 / AUD$6 family package that allows users to deploy six encrypted vaults, a family manager, beefed-up sharing options, and personal dashboards. 

Take a look at the LastPass promo codes currently available for further discounts.

LastPass Business Features

(Image credit: LastPass)

LastPass: Setup

Although LastPass has great apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android, it is most powerful when integrated into your browsing experience with a web browser extension. These extensions are available for all common browsers including Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge (including a pre-Chromium legacy version), and Opera. That comfortably covers four in five desktop browsing sessions according to Statcounter figures,  but there are some password managers like Bitwarden, that have even more browser support.

Browser extensions for all major platforms enable users to enjoy a seamless password management experience. Single sign-on technology means that once the user has entered their master password, the extension will autofill passwords and other credentials when visiting known sites.

However, downloading the LastPass application is still important, as this will be the users’ hub for managing their data and account settings. The app is easy to download on all platforms, and login only requires your master password or biometric information.

If you’re already using a password manager and you’re simply looking for something that it can’t offer, you can import from all of the main browsers, plus a handful of rival companies like Dashlane, 1Password, and Keeper.

LastPass interface

(Image credit: LastPass)

LastPass: Interface and performance

Businesses will be glad to know that LastPass comes with password sharing, password generation, emergency access, one-touch login, and automatic syncing of all data.

Combining password management and MFA enables LastPass to secure every access point used by your business devices with single sign-on for over 1,200 integrated applications.

Advanced administrator controls also enable IT administrators to leverage over 100 policies for user management and data control. This makes it one of the most customizable password management platforms available.

The LastPass applications perform admirably, and in our test, we had no negatives to report. Syncing was efficient and with little lag, and working across multiple devices and browsers was as seamless as the company advertises.

It’s also one of the better-looking apps out there, with clear, easy-to-use menus and distinct sections for passwords, payment details, and the security dashboard. There’s no isolated area for IDs like drivers’ licenses and passports, but you can keep this information in the area designed for notes.

The applications themselves are well-designed, and the user interface is easy to navigate. We’ve tested the application on Windows 10 and 11, macOS, iOS, and Android, and were impressed with all of them.

LastPass: Passkeys

In June 2023, LastPass announced that passkeys are finally coming to its platform by the end of the year, specifically across web, extension, and app experiences, where LastPass will create and save passkeys for eligible websites.

The company hopes that this could even attract a new group of users to the password manager because the passkeys will work on any device that LastPass works on. This means iPhone users who run Windows on their desktop will just be able to use LastPass, instead of having to scan their desktop with their smartphone.

Keeping up-to-date with trends has clearly been a priority for LastPass, which also announced late in 2022 that it would be bringing password management to the metaverse with its Meta Quest app. With the launch of the Apple Vision Pro around the corner, it’s possible that the company already has an app in development for that, too.

LastPass security

User interface of the LastPass desktop app for Windows 10. (Image credit: LastPass)

LastPass: Security

Security policy can make or break a password management provider. Fortunately, LastPass is recognized as one of the most highly secure password managers available. The LastPass platform end-to-end encrypts all data using 256-bit AES encryption and uses advanced Transport Layer Security to prevent in-transit attacks.

Also, as is industry standard, LastPass does not store users’ master passwords or authentication keys locally or on its servers. So no one, including LastPass, can access a user’s encrypted data remotely.

We were also particularly impressed by LastPass’s frequent external auditing and transparent incident response protocol. This means that if there are any weaknesses in the LastPass system, they are quickly identified and addressed.

Finally, the LastPass bug bounty program adds a community-level pillar to the platform’s security framework and further protects LastPass from bugs and software weaknesses, which demonstrates that the company holds a high level of accountability.

LastPass support center

LastPass employs strong encryption algorithms and multi-factor authentication to secure your passwords and data. (Image credit: LastPass)

LastPass: Customer support

Both businesses and individuals can avail themselves of the LastPass forums. The forums page contains threads on numerous business-related topics, and we were able to find advice for many niche problems. There are loads of help articles, too.

For issues that can’t be solved by exploring the forum and articles, free online training and how-to guides are also available. Email support is readily available, too, but only certain plans get phone support.

LastPass: The competition

Although LastPass is feature-rich and highly affordable, there are cheaper options that might appeal to businesses on a tight budget. 

For example, Sticky Password is cheaper than LastPass, with similar feature sets and security protocols. Another strong competitor is N-Able Passportal business password manager as well as Norton's password manager. You should also consider our comparison of 1Password and LastPass.

LastPass: Final verdict

LastPass is one of the best password managers available, and business leaders or IT administrators would do well to consider it for their organization. Advanced features, top-notch security, and centralized administrator controls and analytics all play their role in this superb password management solution.

Despite its advanced features, LastPass is still highly affordable in most cases, and this contributes significantly to our favorable opinion of the platform. However, if you’re looking for a free account only and you’re not willing to fork out a monthly fee, chances are you’d be better off with something that can support multiple signed in sessions simultaneously like Bitwarden or one of the software giants’ own solutions, like iCloud Keychain or Google Password Manager.

We've also featured the best password recovery software.

Dashlane Review: Pros & Cons, Features, Ratings, Pricing and more
1:34 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

Dashlane is one of the oldest and most popular password manager apps on the market, and it’s got the headline figures to back that up. More than 2.5 billion credentials have been saved on it, and it supports more than 20,000 companies making it a great option for businesses. Companies like Wayfair and PepsiCo trust it – so you know they must be on to something.

A glance at its feature list will explain why it's remained popular for a decade. Its core features include 2FA encryption, customizable settings, secure autofill settings, and support for an unlimited number of passwords. Because it’s one of the largest options in its industry, it also has the backing to be able to adapt most quickly, so you can expect some of the latest and greatest features like passkey support.

We've explored the features that make Dashlane stand out in our review – and found out if this older app can keep up with its newer and possibly more agile rivals.

Our password manager advice doesn't stop there, either. Head here for our verdict on the best password managers, and take a look at our choice of the best password managers

Dashlane pricing August 2023

(Image credit: Dashlane)

Dashlane: Plans and pricing

There are loads of options available when it comes to Dashlane products. Individuals can opt for the free product tier, which includes support for an unlimited number of passwords and passkeys on one device alongside a password generator and some of the app's core features, like 2FA and personalized alerts.

The Advanced plan costs $3.49 / £3.49 / AUD$3.49 per month and it allows individuals to use Dashlane on an unlimited number of devices. It also includes dark web monitoring to make sure that your credentials are even safer. The Premium plan at $6.49 / £3.99 / AUD$3.99 adds a VPN as well, which is recommended when connecting to unsecured networks. In this instance, Dashlane gives users access to Hotspot Shield Premium, which itself is a service worth $12.99 / £10.99 / AUD$19.99 monthly, so Dashlane Premium represents really good value for money if you’re able to benefit from the VPN.

Families can pay $8.99 / £5.99 / AUD$5.99 per month for a package that supports up to ten family members. With that product, you get all the features available elsewhere – plus a dashboard for easy management.

All of the personal plans can be paid for annually, which means users willing to fork out more money in one go but less often can save themselves around 20% each year compared with paying monthly.

Three different business plans are available. Unlimited passwords, secure sharing, business and personal spaces, and dark web insights form the basis of the Starter plan which headlines at $2 / £2 / AUD$3 per month, but because it’s only available with 10 seats, it will cost $20 / £20 / AUD$30 per month regardless. The Team plan adds unlimited seats and VPN to the base product and is paid on a per-person basis and sits in the middle of the business-oriented lineup.

The priciest Business product costs $8 / £8 / AUD$12 per user per month, but it adds SSO integration, SCIM provisioning, a free friends and family plan for all users, and on-demand phone support – which is something you don't get with lots of cheaper products.

Check out the latest Dashlane promo codes to see how you can save further on certain plains.

Dashlane features

(Image credit: Dashlane)

Dashlane: Setup

The setup process is simple and straightforward and took us under five minutes to complete. The interface is so well-designed it led us seamlessly through the handful of steps required to register a new account and save our first set of credentials.

To begin, we were encouraged to add the Chrome extension. From here, we were directed to the sign-up page.

We were presented with a list of popular websites with links and logos and asked to select our first site. The software then guided us through the process of choosing and storing passwords using the Chrome extension.

Beyond the Chrome extension, there’s support for other popular browsers like Edge, Firefox, Brave, and Opera, including desktop clients for the major operating systems and mobile apps.

If the reason for your setup is that you’re moving from another password manager, you can import credentials straight into Dashlane by exporting from 1Password, Bitwarden, LastPass, KeePass, Keeper, or RoboForm as a .csv file. You can also do the same from Google Password Manager, Microsoft Edge Password Manager, iCloud Keychain, and the Firefox browser.

Dashlane interface

(Image credit: Dashlane)

Dashlane: Interface and performance

Dashlane automatically fills login details for websites, credit and debit card numbers, and online forms. This feature can make the average working day far more efficient. A bulk password-changing function also makes it easy to change multiple passwords at once in the event of a significant data breach, or if you’re new to password management and up until now you’ve been using the same password for all accounts.

The software is packed with features, including a VPN for safe browsing on public Wi-Fi connections (for Premium plans), which makes Dashlane much more than just a password manager. Even the free version includes personalized security alerts and a password generator.

Dashlane's business suite handles every aspect of a company's password security, from password storage and bespoke security ratings for individual team members to security policy management via the in-built Admin Console. From this console, you can "Pinpoint password hygiene problems" from the Password health score that gets generated, along with details of compromised passwords.

Dashlane works with most operating systems, and there is a plugin for all the main browsers. There is also a desktop app available, but combined, the browser plugin and web app are more than adequate. There’s even an extension for Safari, which many companies fail to deliver on, but you’ll need the full desktop client to benefit from this.

It's a very easy app to use. Dashlane's interface is clean, logical and straightforward to navigate, and you don't have to download a separate app – it's all handled using browser extensions or the web.

Here, you can manage and add passwords, view your account information and access the other features that come with your plan. Any changes we made were instantaneous, and Android and iOS apps are also available – with instant syncing deployed across platforms.

The password generator is accessed through the browser plugin, a nice touch that enables you to create strong passwords while browsing.

Dashlane help center

Dashlane has a well-organized, dedicated support page. (Image credit: Dashlane)

Dashlane: Passkeys

Dashlane is slowly adding support for passkeys and was one of the first major password managers to do so. With the web app, users can save passkeys and use them to log into their accounts. Viewing, editing, and deleting passkeys are “coming soon,” according to the company, which failed to provide a timeline.

The same will be true for iOS 17 users when the mobile operating system becomes generally available, likely in September 2023, while Android users have been testing out passkey support in Android 14 beta already.

Dashlane has a dedicated page for keeping up to date with its passkey support rollout.

Dashlane: Security

Dashlane is the only US-patented password manager and uses military-grade AES 256-bit encryption alongside its patented technology.

Further security is enabled by two-factor authentication (2FA) compatible with common authenticator apps and U2F security keys. Like some other password managers, there is a master password that the user needs to enter to access the service, but only the user has it, and Dashlane has zero knowledge of it, and does not store it. What this means, though, is that if you forget your master password, you could be locked out for good.

There's plenty of support for different SSO apps here, too – Dashlane integrates with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Azure, Duo, Okta, and more. Businesses can also use customizable policies to create a tailored, secure environment, and automated employee management allows security to start immediately.

Dashlane even has a bug bounty program that offers rewards of up to $5,000 in return for the notification of vulnerabilities by eager security workers.

Dashlane security

(Image credit: Dashlane)

Dashlane: Customer support

Dashlane has a well-organized and easy-to-navigate support page that we could access through the web app and browser extension. It has a prominent search bar top and center to look for content and plenty of articles that guide users through key app features.

FAQs are comprehensive and arranged into categories such as Account & Security, Passwords & Data, and Platforms & Browsers.

Live chat support is available in English during working hours on weekdays, while out of hours, it's possible to consult the chatbot and contact the support team via email. We tested all options and were impressed with each of them, as there was no queue on the live chat and our request was dealt with quickly and professionally. Our email was answered quickly with information on contracting the live support staff, but the chatbot was a little underwhelming compared with other similar experiences across the web, especially during an era of generative AI. The responses and pre-determined inputs were somewhat limiting.

Remember, too, that certain product tiers also included phone support – ideal if you need help in a hurry.

Dashlane: The competition

Dashlane's biggest competitor is LastPass, which is consistently voted among the best password managers on the market.

Dashlane has a cleaner, more user-friendly interface, but LastPass wins on value for money. Its free version is only slightly different from its paid one, while Dashlane's free product misses out on features like dark web monitoring and VPN support.

KeePass is Dashlane's closest competitor in regard to security. The company sells its service on its security merits, but, unlike Dashlane, this advanced security comes at the expense of convenience. Another strong competitor is N-Able Passportal, which is well-suited to demanding businesses.

Dashlane: Final verdict

The simplicity of Dashlane's interface means even first-time users can benefit from the advanced password management services and security on offer, and its free product is a decent option for basic password protection.

There's plenty of functionality on offer from all of Dashlane's products, especially if you upgrade to the paid versions – but we will say that some of Dashlane's business products are quite expensive when compared to other password manager tools.

We've also featured the best password recovery software.

Google One VPN review
1:24 pm | October 24, 2022

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Security | Tags: | Comments: Off

Google One VPN is a simple VPN that comes bundled with the tech giant's premium subscription service, Google One. When we say simple, we really, really mean it. There are barely any options, settings, or features. You can't even choose a location. Hit the Enable button and the app automatically connects to a server in your country, then goes to work encrypting your internet traffic.

Google has expanded its app range since launch and the VPN now works on Windows and Mac, as well as Android and iOS. There's no way to manually set it up on anything else but with no real features, there's not much reason to do that.

If you're hoping to unblock US Netflix or anything else, get connected in VPN-unfriendly countries, set up the VPN on a router, or anything even faintly advanced, then we can say absolutely, definitively, and without question, Google One VPN isn't the service for you.

If you're going to buy Google One anyway and you could use a lightweight service to protect your internet activities on public Wi-Fi, then it might be a different story. In this review, we'll look more closely at what Google One VPN offers, what it doesn't have, and find out whether this could be a smart choice for you. We're only reviewing the VPN element here. If you want details on the full package, you can check out our Google One review

Google One VPN Split Tunneling

The Bypass VPN feature allows you to choose apps that won't use the VPN tunnel (Image credit: Google)

What is Google One VPN?

Although it's more basic than just about anything from the big VPN names, Google One VPN is a real virtual private network (VPN) that delivers the same fundamental security benefits. 

Turn it on, and the app directs all your device traffic through a secure encrypted tunnel. Snoopers aren't able to access your data on even the most insecure of public Wi-Fi hotspots, and with your real IP address replaced by Google One VPN's server, it's more difficult for companies to track you online.

The big omission is Google One VPN doesn't allow you to choose a new virtual location (pretend to be in the US when you're actually in Australia, for instance). As a result, it can't help you access US-exclusive Netflix shows, say, or any other content that isn't normally available in your country.

Although that's a major downside, it also looks like web companies won't spend as much time and effort trying to detect and block Google One VPN connections. We'll get more into this later.

Google One VPN Snooze Feature

A Snooze button temporarily turns off the VPN (Image credit: Google)

What are the apps like?

Google One VPN's Windows and Mac apps are just about as simple as you'll see. An opening dashboard lists two or three reasons you might use a VPN  such as reducing tracking, staying safe on public Wi-Fi, and browsing securely. There's an On/ Off button, an option to launch when your devices start, and that's it.

Google's Android and iOS offerings look a little more complex, at least initially, because they include panels relating to Google One's various cloud storage features. Tap one to explore how your storage space is being used. A Sync option can back up your photos, videos, contacts or calendars, and a Clean up feature wipes junk files to free up more space. If you're not interested in any of that, though, just tap the iOS VPN panel and you've essentially got the same stripped-back interface as the desktop app. 

Android users get a touch more functionality. A split tunneling feature allows you to choose apps that won't use the VPN, handy for anything that isn't compatible. A Snooze feature pauses the VPN protection for five minutes, then automatically resumes it, and integration with Android's system-wide kill switch protects you by blocking your internet if the connection drops. That's all good news, but the app is still seriously underpowered by usual Android standards.

There is a positive side to having next to no features; you've next to nothing to learn so anyone can use it. There's no need to understand technical concepts like protocols or even encryption. Just flip the switch when you need protection.

Unfortunately, the lack of features might compromise your privacy in some situations. Our tests showed the Windows app didn't have a kill switch, for instance, and when we forcibly dropped the connection, our real IP was exposed. The app didn't even warn us or try to reconnect, so Windows users could browse for hours, thinking they're protected, when they're entirely exposed.

Does Google One VPN store any logs?

Connect to most VPNs, and your login and user traffic is sent through the same server. That single computer knows your identity and where you’re going online, allowing a malicious VPN (or anyone who can compromise the server) to log your activities and link them to your account.

Google One VPN is designed so that you log in using one server, but your browsing is routed through another. This way, the first computer knows who you are, but not what you’re doing; the second knows what you’re doing, but not who you are. Even Google can’t see which sites you’re visiting (which means it can’t log them, either).

The service does log some very general data about VPN use: how many connections you’ve made in the last 28 days, for instance, and how many connections your account has active right now. But that’s not unusual – most VPNs monitor the number of active connections to enforce ‘maximum device’ limits – and there’s nothing here that can link you to any action online.

Google One VPN Source Code

Google allows anyone to examine some reference libraries for its VPN (Image credit: Google)

Google doesn’t have the best of reputations for looking after user privacy, but fortunately you don’t have to take its VPN claims entirely on trust. The company has open-sourced some reference libraries for its apps, allowing anyone with technical expertise to take a look at how it works, and in 2021 the VPN was audited by NCC Group.

The conclusions were generally positive, with NCC Group finding that the VPN worked as promised, and explaining how Google had taken measures to prevent the system being compromised (malicious employees can’t simply install a backdoor on their own, for instance).

The report warned that the technical protections ‘did not categorically eliminate the opportunity for Google to violate its privacy claims’, but any audit of any VPN could make a similar point: things look great now, but it’s possible a provider could cheat the system later.

Overall, although the system design, open sourcing and audit report will never win over the biggest Google skeptics, the reality is Google One VPN has more support for its no-logging claim than most of the competition.

Google One VPN Plans

Google One Premium gives you a bunch of other stuff as well as the VPN (Image credit: Google)

How much does Google One VPN cost?

The Google One VPN is available in the following countries for eligible Google One members: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and United States

After signing up, you can travel to other countries and Google One VPN should still work, but it may not connect to a server in that country, which could lead to problems. If you use Google One VPN in Hungary, say, and it connects to a server in Germany, then websites may not serve you with the local content you expect.

The baseline Google One plan offers the VPN, 100GB of online storage, Google Photos editing features, and alerts if Google finds your personal details on the dark web. It's yours for a very low $1.99 billed monthly (regular VPNs ask $10-$13), dropping to $1.67 on the annual plan.

Higher plans add more storage and extra benefits, including premium Google Workspace features and up to 10% rewards on Google Play purchases. See our full Google One review for more details.

This could be good value in some situations. If you'll only use a VPN to protect yourself on public Wi-Fi when on holiday, for instance, giving an annual $4 to Google will cover you for a couple of trips. Bargain!

If you'd like to unblock content, get online in VPN-unfriendly countries, or do anything more complex, you can get a full-strength VPN for not much more. For example, Private Internet Access is just $3.33 a month on its annual plan. That's $2.03 over three years for a far more powerful VPN service.

Google One VPN Main Interface

Google One VPN's interface really couldn't be any more basic (Image credit: Google)

How easy is Google One VPN to use?

The Google One app doesn’t even try to match regular VPNs for visual style. It’s really just a web page, with different sections on the VPN and Google One’s other features, and you browse it for whatever you need.

This still isn’t difficult to use: all you have to do is hit the Enable VPN button, then an Enable VPN switch, and typically you’re connected in around a second. Standard VPN apps usually require one tap rather than two, but that’s the only significant difference.

Android users can make life even easier by adding Google One VPN to their Quick Settings menu. After that, there’s no need to even launch the app. Connecting or disconnecting is then as easy as swiping down a couple of times and tapping the Google One VPN button.

Netflix menu showing popular shows

Google One VPN can't be used to unblock Netflix, or anything else, due to the way it's designed (Image credit: Netflix)

What does Google One VPN unblock?

Most VPNs let you connect to servers in different countries. This allows you to appear as though you're in Manhattan when actually you're in Melbourne. This may allow you to access content that isn't normally available in your country.

Google One VPN's apps automatically choose your server, though, usually one based in your own country. So, as you can't change your region, you won't be able to unblock anything at all.

One issue with streaming sites in particular is they often look out for VPN connections and block access if they detect you're using one. We connected to the VPN and then tried to watch Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, and BBC iPlayer. None of the sites complained about Google One and we streamed content as usual.

Using a VPN can cause hassles on non-streaming sites, too. You might see annoying 'click all the tiles containing a bicycle' type CAPTCHAs, for instance, and some sites may block you entirely.

To test how the VPN handles this, we connected and accessed twelve websites (including Google) that can detect VPN use. The results were a real surprise. Commonly used free VPNs might be spotted on up to ten of our twelve websites, most commercial VPNs are detected by six to eight, but Google One VPN was flagged by only one website.

Looks like Google One VPN's ‘we don't unblock anything' stance has at least one advantage: content providers don't have much incentive to spend time and money trying to detect its users, and that could mean you're far less likely to be blocked while legitimately accessing sites in your own country.

Google One VPN Interface Portrait

Google One VPN offers a decent turn of speed, performance-wise (Image credit: Google)

How fast is Google One VPN?

We tested Google One VPN's performance using several benchmarking sites and apps including SpeedTest, Measurement Lab, Cloudflare, and more. We did this from a US home with a 1Gbps fiber connection.

The results were a little below par, with Google managing average download speeds of 345Mbps. That's a very long way behind the market leaders - IPVanish, NordVPN, and Surfshark all beat 950Mbps in recent tests. Still, it's perfectly adequate for browsing, streaming, and most other internet tasks.

Final verdict: How good is Google One VPN?

Google One VPN is a very limited VPN which just won't work for most users. The inability to change location means it can't unblock anything. No desktop kill switch makes it poor for Windows or Mac privacy. It won't even try to get you connected in China or other countries that block VPNs. If you only need the VPN for occasional mobile use while accessing public Wi-Fi, and you'll make use of the 2TB online storage space and other Google One extras, then it might, just about, get the job done. Even there though, the likes of Private Internet Access offer a far more capable service for only a little extra cash.

Norton Secure VPN review
1:17 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Security | Tags: | Comments: Off

It seems like all the big security companies offer a VPN these days, but Norton Secure VPN is better than most. It's easy to use, has more features than you might expect, and is still surprisingly affordable.

Norton's network is a little small, with only 29 countries available and no city-level selections. Most are in Europe and North America, although there are servers in Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa.

There are apps for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. You can connect one, five, or 10 devices simultaneously, depending on your plan. Sounds reasonable, but beware, these have to be specific devices. If you buy a five-device plan and install the app on two laptops, two phones, and a tablet, you can't install it anywhere else until it's removed from one of your other devices.

P2P is supported, though not with all locations. Choose the ‘Torrent-Optimized Region' option in Norton's app and it'll connect to the nearest torrent-friendly location.

Norton Secure VPN Torrent Support

It's easy to hook up with the nearest torrent-friendly location (Image credit: NortonLifeLock)

The service uses the speedy and secure WireGuard protocol but doesn't provide any way to get it working manually on other devices. 

Checking the Windows app Settings box reveals some welcome features including a kill switch that protects your connection if the VPN drops, split tunneling which enables you to choose which app traffic should be routed through the VPN and which uses your regular connection, and built-in ad, tracker, and malware blocking, too.

Norton Secure VPN Plans and Pricing

Both monthly and annual plans are available (Image credit: NortonLifeLock)

Plans and pricing

Norton Secure VPN prices start at just $4.99 billed monthly for a single device license. Most providers ask $10-$13 for monthly plans, so if you only need to protect that one device, Norton looks like a very good deal.

Norton's five-device plan starts cheap at $3.33 a month billed annually, although that doubles to $6.66 on renewal.

The 10-device plan is priced at $5 a month on the annual subscription, rising to $8.33 on renewal. That looks a little costly to us but when bought in a bundle it can be more cost effective.

Buy Norton Secure VPN as a bundle with Norton 360 Deluxe and you'll also get an excellent antivirus for up to five PCs, Macs, mobiles and tablets, a firewall for PC and Mac, parental controls, a password manager, 50GB cloud backup space, and more. It's only fractionally more expensive at $4.17 a month for the first year of the annual plan, and still reasonable at $9.58 on renewal ($114.99 a year). If you're in the market for a new antivirus or security suite, that could be the best option.

Whatever your product preferences, Norton protects you with a 14-day money-back guarantee for monthly-billed subscriptions and a generous 60-days with annual plans.

Norton Secure VPN Privacy

Norton Secure VPN can block trackers and more, but the service does keep some logs on its users (Image credit: NortonLifeLock)

Privacy and logging

The website claims that “unlike some other VPNs, we don't track, log, or save your browsing activities.” Sounds promising, but there's no more detail on the front page.

A 'What is a no-log VPN?' blog post vaguely states that although “Norton Secure VPN does not log information about where you browse on the Internet”, it does collect “other limited data in accordance with the NortonLifeLock Global Privacy Statement and the Product Privacy Notice.”

The Norton Secure VPN privacy policy says the service collects or accesses your device name, type, and identifier, OS version (for mobile devices), license identifier, a running total of bandwidth used, usage data, and some very basic diagnostic information to help solve any issues (an error state code, for instance).

One unusual clause says “if suspicious behavior is detected or blocked” Norton might collect your IP address, license identifier, device identifier, and frequency of abuse of services for up to 7 days.

This leaves us with more questions than answers. What does Norton regard as suspicious behavior, for instance? Surely this must mean it's monitoring at least some user actions. In which case, will this data be shared with others? Norton's Global Privacy Statement does say that it will disclose personal data in response to a subpoena, warrant, discovery request, or a request with the purpose of identifying and/or preventing credit card fraud, identity theft, and other crimes.

This is all just too vague for us, and we'd like more detail on how the company handles your data. A Transparency Report giving some specifics on what Norton has disclosed to the authorities might be interesting. It's hard to see why a name as big as Norton can't join the likes ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and TunnelBear in putting itself through a public audit, to give potential customers real information on how it's looking after their privacy.

Norton Secure VPN Windows App

Norton Secure VPN's Windows app is very simple and straightforward (Image credit: NortonLifeLock)

Apps

Norton Secure VPN's Windows app has a simple and straightforward interface which even the greenest of VPN newbies will figure out immediately.

Click the On button and the app connects to your nearest server. Alternatively, make your own choice from 29 countries in the location list. This is as basic as it gets – no ping times, server load stats, Favorites system, filters, or anything else.

Norton Secure VPN Windows App Locations

You can pick a server from a very basic location list (Image credit: NortonLifeLock)

Both the desktop and mobile apps have optional ad, tracker, and malware blocking. Many VPNs now offer some kind of content filtering, but can you be sure it's doing anything useful? To get an idea, we turned the feature on and tried a few tests.

Norton scored below 40% on our ad-blocking test (most VPNs average 70-90%.) It blocked a very respectable 69% of our test trackers, though, and (maybe unsurprisingly for a security company) protected us against 100% of our malicious test URLs.

Norton Secure VPN Split Tunneling

Split tunneling lets you specify apps that don't use the VPN tunnel (Image credit: NortonLifeLock)

The app doesn't include many settings, but what you get is worthwhile. These include settings to select whether to launch the app and automatically connect when Windows starts, enable the Kill Switch, and to set up split tunneling.

The main omission is any way to change protocol or customize how the VPN connects –  it's WireGuard-only. 

Oddly, the app doesn't provide any way to close it down entirely. There's no Exit, Quit, or similar button. Closing the app window simply minimizes it to an icon in the system tray and there's no right-click, Exit option there either.

Norton Secure VPN Windows App Settings

The kill switch did not impress us (Image credit: NortonLifeLock)

We ran some extreme tests on the kill switch by ceasing Secure VPN's WireGuard processes and stopping its services. The connection dropped, but the app didn't warn us, the kill switch didn't block our internet, and our device used its regular unprotected internet connection as usual. Not good.

Maybe we were unlucky? We tried turning our router off and on to simulate a dropped network. A good kill switch should block everything apart from the VPN app until it can reconnect. Secure VPN didn't block our internet, didn't reconnect, and told us to try connecting again later.

Put this all together and it looks like the Windows kill switch is unreliable in the extreme. There's no way to be sure it will kick in and block your internet if the VPN drops, and that could mean your device traffic is unprotected for at least a few seconds, and possibly until you notice there's a problem. That may not matter much if you're just unblocking Netflix, but it's a disaster if you're doing anything more privacy-critical.

Keep in mind that this test was for the Windows kill switch only. It can't tell us what might happen with other apps. If you're only running Norton Secure VPN on Android, for instance, you won't be relying on Norton's app; you'll be using the very well-tested and reliable Android system kill switch.

Norton Secure VPN Android App

This is the user interface of Norton Secure VPN's Android app (Image credit: NortonLifeLock)

Mac and mobile apps

The Mac app looks more appealing than Norton's Windows offering, with a colorful map highlighting your current location. It has the ad, malware, and tracker blocker, but is missing some of the more advanced features seen in the Windows app, namely WireGuard support, split tunneling, and the kill switch.

It's much the same with Secure VPN Android and iOS apps. Norton has tweaked the interface a little to suit portrait mode and smaller screens, but it follows the same minimalist approach. There is just the big ‘Connect' button, a plain location list, and a few tiny icons. Very simple and straightforward.

There are a handful of useful bonus features in the background. The iOS app has the ad blocker, and a ‘Wi-Fi Security' feature which can make the VPN automatically connect when you access an unsecured or compromised network.

Android has the ad blocker, split tunneling, and the kill switch, but its version of ‘Wi-Fi Security' is more basic.  It'll warn you when accessing an unsecured network, but won't automatically connect. You're left to do that yourself.

Overall, Norton Secure VPN's apps are easy to use, and the Windows app has a few useful features. The other apps are distinctly short on functionality, and the Windows kill switch looks unreliable in the extreme, so there's plenty of work for the company to do yet.

Norton Secure VPN did fairly well in our unblocking tests

Norton Secure VPN did fairly well in our unblocking tests (Image credit: Shutterstock / sitthiphong)

Netflix and streaming

Norton Secure VPN is mostly sold on its ability to protect your details from cybercriminals when you're using Wi-Fi, and the website doesn't make any big claims (or even small ones) about unblocking big-name streaming platforms.

Our unblocking tests found some notable successes, with Secure VPN getting us into US and Australian Netflix, but failing in the UK, Canada, and Japan.

It was a similar story with other US platforms, as Secure VPN unblocked Amazon Prime, but didn't get us access to the Disney Plus site.

The mixed picture continued in Australia, with Secure VPN getting us into 9Now but failing with 10 Play.

Norton finished strongly in the UK, though, unblocking BBC iPlayer, ITV and, Channel 4.

That's far from a perfect performance, but Secure VPN clearly has some unblocking skills, and there's a chance it'll help you access other platforms we didn't test.

If you're looking to unblock just about anything, ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Private Internet Access, ProtonVPN, PureVPN, and Surfshark each got us into every test site we tried in our latest reviews.

New Speedtest Image

We use a number of different speed tests to gauge the performance of each VPN we review (Image credit: Ookla)

Performance

We measured Norton Secure VPN's performance by accessing its nearest server from a UK data center with a 1Gbps connection. We then checked download speeds using benchmarking sites and services including SpeedTest.net (website and the command line app), Measurement Lab, Cloudflare, and others. 

The results were amazing, with Norton Secure VPN reaching a median 950Mbps+ across its best sessions. That puts the service alongside big names like NordVPN and Surshark on the performance front.

If your internet connection or Wi-Fi barely reaches 95Mbps, let alone 950Mbps, this won't in itself bring you a lot of benefit. 16 out of our top 20 VPNs reach at least 500Mbps, and it's likely that any of those will have all the speed you'll be able to use.

However, the ability to reach such an exceptional peak performance does suggest Norton Secure VPN has capable servers with high-speed connections, which aren't overloaded by other users. That's good news for everyone, regardless of personal connection speeds.

Norton Secure VPN Support

NortonLifeLock offers 24/7 support via live chat and phone (Image credit: NortonLifeLock)

Support

Run into problems with Norton Secure VPN and you could head off to the support site, but be prepared for disappointment. Although there’s plenty of content, most of it is on Norton’s core security products. There are a few FAQs, setup and usage guides, but nothing that begins to compete with the specialist VPN providers.

This makes sense for Norton’s core consumer market, and the site does a fair job of explaining the service basics to VPN newcomers. But there’s not much here for more technical users. We went searching for protocols, for instance, to see if we could find any advanced articles, but there were no hits for ‘WireGuard’, and ‘IKEv2’ had only three.

You can contact the support team direct via live chat and phone. We had quick responses to our test questions, the agents were friendly and helpful, and went above and beyond to help. When a previously lengthy chat couldn’t solve our issue, for instance, an agent remotely accessed our device (with permission) to try to fix the problem.

Overall, the support team doesn’t appear to have the level of specialist VPN knowledge we see with the top providers. But that’s no great surprise, considering it has to cover the full Norton range, not just Secure VPN. And the reality is if, like most people, you just want to ask a straightforward product question – what does this mean, where do I find that, is my local server down right now? – then Norton’s support should generally deliver what you need.

Norton Secure VPN review: Final verdict

Norton Secure VPN is simple and very fast, and if that's all you need – or, maybe, you're looking for a VPN and a security suite – then its back-to-basics approach might appeal. Experts will be frustrated by the lack of features, though, plus the Windows kill switch is a big concern, and there are many more capable and better value VPNs around.

Mozilla VPN review
1:12 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Security | Tags: | Comments: Off

Mozilla VPN began life as a simple Firefox browser extension but its now a full standalone service that can shield all your internet traffic on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux.

The network has expanded recently and now offers 600+ servers across 73 locations in 43 countries.

Mozilla VPN is powered by Mullvad's speedy and secure network. Some companies keep quiet about the fact that they're reselling someone else's service, not Mozilla. Click the 'see our full list of servers' link on the Mozilla VPN website, for instance, and it takes you to the server list on Mullvad's site

Mozilla VPN DNS Settings

You can elect to use ad or tracker-blocking DNS servers (Image credit: Mozilla)

Features

Mozilla VPN's feature list has grown considerably since launch. Now, the service competes well with many big VPN names. The network is P2P-friendly, for instance (we torrented successfully on three test locations), support for the speedy WireGuard protocol optimizes performance, and there's a kill switch to protect you if the VPN drops. Multi-Hop VPN enables connecting to the VPN from one location and exiting from another, making it even more difficult for others to track your activities. There is also split tunneling support (called App Exclusions here) that allows you to decide which apps are protected by the VPN and which use your regular internet connection.

Other highlights include IPv6 support, and the ability to choose an ad or tracker-blocking DNS server, or to use your preferred DNS.

Firefox users get an unusual bonus in support for Multi-Account Containers. Each Firefox tab can be connected to a separate VPN location, so instead of forever connecting, changing location, and disconnecting, you can just switch to whatever tab you need. This Mozilla blog post has more details.

There are still weaknesses. Mozilla VPN only supports the WireGuard protocol, so if that won't connect on your network, you're out of luck. There's no support for manually setting up the service on routers or anything else. Additionally, you still can't set up the apps to automatically connect when you access public Wi-Fi, either.

There's no live chat support, but Mozilla does have a decent number of support articles. You can also send questions to the support team from the website if you're in serious trouble.

Mozilla VPN Device Limits

Only five devices can be registered to use the VPN at one time (Image credit: Mozilla)

We spotted one potential annoyance. Although Mozilla VPN says it works with up to five devices, that means specific, registered devices. If you use the service on two mobiles, two laptops, and a tablet, for instance, you can't use it on a new device until you've signed out of one of the others.

Mozilla VPN Pricing

Payment methods include PayPal as well as cards (Image credit: Mozilla)

Mozilla VPN pricing

Mozilla VPN is priced at a reasonable $9.99 for its monthly billed account, dropping to $4.99 on the https://vpn.mozilla.org/.

Although that's not expensive overall, keep in mind that you're paying for access to Mullvad's servers. Sign up for Mullvad instead and you'll pay a flat rate of €5 a month (around $5.50), whatever the length of your subscription.

Payments are accepted via card and PayPal only.

If you sign up and the service doesn't work for you, no problem, you're protected by a 30-day money-back guarantee. There are no sneaky catches or exclusions, as far as we can tell and we spent quite some time looking. If you're unhappy, just tell the company within the first 30 days, and you'll get a refund.

Mozilla VPN Privacy

Mozilla VPN puts user privacy first (Image credit: Mozilla)

Privacy and logging

Mozilla sells its VPN partly on being from 'a name you can trust' and that's a major plus. Even if you think Mozilla's reputation comes largely from not being Google or Microsoft, it's still way ahead of many VPNs in the trustworthiness stakes, and its partner, Mullvad, is one of the most privacy-focused providers around.

The Mozilla VPN website makes its general approach very clear – ''Your privacy comes first'', ''We don't store your online activity logs on our servers'' – and the company provides more information in a brief Privacy Notice.

The firm collects your IP address when you sign up and use the service, along with technical information about the setup such as the app version, operating system, hardware configuration, and interaction data. Interaction data includes the time that you log in, when the app requests the server information, and other stuff. Mozilla says the IP is only held temporarily, although it doesn't explain how long 'temporary' might be.

If you're unhappy with this, you can disable some of it. Our Windows app installer asked us whether we wanted to send usage data to Mozilla, making it clear what was going on, and giving us a chance to say 'no, thanks'. If you don't notice the installer option, you can also turn this off later in the settings.

Mozilla points users to the Mullvad Privacy Policy for more detail and that explains there's no logging of traffic, DNS requests, IP addresses, session times, or bandwidth used.

Mozilla VPN Audit

Mozilla VPN was given a thorough audit by Cure53 (Image credit: Mozilla)

Audit

Mozilla says all the right things about privacy, but users shouldn't be left to take any provider's words on trust. We like to see some independent evidence that a VPN is living up to its promises.

In August 2021, Mozilla provided just that by publishing the results of a second Cure53 audit into its service.

This didn't look at the servers, but Cure53 did have an in-depth look at the apps, including the source code.

Cure53's report was positive overall, saying that only a single medium scale vulnerability was uncovered, and that the apps had 'grown significantly in security' since its last review.

Overall, we think the audit is positive news in a number of ways. The scope was significant, covering all Mozilla's apps; the company shared its source code; the audit results were reasonable, and it published the report in full. We give Mozilla a lot of credit for putting itself under that level of scrutiny, something which most VPNs still haven't done.

Mozilla VPN Platform Support

Mozilla VPN is available across a number of platforms (Image credit: Mozilla)

Apps

Signing up with Mozilla VPN begins by providing your email address and age to create a Firefox account. Although most providers also ask you to register with your email address, Mullvad doesn't need any personal details at all, which could be another reason to just buy it from Mullvad directly.

With the account set up, we handed over our cash and the website directed us to the Downloads page. We grabbed a copy of the Windows app, which was downloaded and installed within seconds.

Mozilla VPN Windows App

This is the user interface of Mozilla VPN's Windows app (Image credit: Mozilla)

Mozilla VPN's Windows offering has a straightforward and very standard interface. A small console displays your default location, and you can click this to select another. A big On/Off switch connects and disconnects you as required, and icons plus a status display make it clear when you're protected, and when you're not.

The client doesn't have an 'Automatic' setting where it chooses the fastest server for you, and there's no Search box, filtering, or Favorites system to quickly find your most-used locations. Getting connected takes a little more scrolling and clicking than we'd like. There's some compensation in Mozilla's use of the ultra-speedy WireGuard protocol, which typically got us connected in 1-2 seconds.

Mozilla VPN App Crash

Our connection stress testing caused the app to get stuck at this point (Image credit: Mozilla)

The app didn't perform as well in our connection stress tests, where we see how a VPN can handle awkward network situations like no internet connection, when another VPN is connected, and so on. It occasionally hung on ‘Connecting' or ‘Disconnecting' screens for so long that we had to restart to recover.

If you're only ever accessing the same few very standard Wi-Fi hotspots, you might instantly connect each time, and this won't matter at all; however, if you're traveling more widely, you could find Mozilla VPN has the occasional connection issue. If you're signing up for the trial, use your time to test the service on as many different networks as you can to see how it works for you.

Mozilla VPN Settings

Unfortunately Mozilla VPN has very few settings (Image credit: Mozilla)

Settings

We started by looking at Mozilla VPN's Windows split tunneling system. This enables setting up specific apps to use your normal internet connection rather than the VPN, which can be handy to improve performance or fix problems like banking apps not running if you seem to be in another country.

A DNS Settings screen allows you to choose DNS servers that block ads, trackers, or both, and you can also enter a custom DNS server of your own.

A 'Privacy features' page allows selectively blocking ads, trackers, and malware. We turned everything on and tried accessing 156 common trackers. Mozilla VPN blocked a very acceptable 115, including all the most important such as Google and Facebook.

Switching to malware, we tried accessing 379 very new malicious websites and watched as Mozilla VPN blocked 99.2% (it missed only three.) Even ad blocking worked better than we expected, with our VPN-enabled connection scoring 90% protection in one test (that's better than uBlock Origin.)

A Notifications page includes an option to display an alert if you connect to an unsecured Wi-Fi network. That's useful, although more powerful apps can automatically connect to the VPN as required, too.

A handful of more technical features include the ability to use port 53 for connections, which might help you use the service in countries or on networks where a VPN is normally blocked. 

As we mentioned above, there's no option to change protocol but otherwise, there's a fair amount of configurability here and Mozilla VPN certainly outperforms many competitors.

Kill Switch

Mozilla VPN's Windows client has a kill switch but there is no option to turn it on or off (Image credit: Mozilla)

Kill switch

While Mozilla's Windows client has a kill switch, there's no option to turn it on or off or tweak how it works. That's good for security, as there's no way you can accidentally disable it. Still, this could be bad news if the kill switch causes some problems on your device, as there's no way to try and fix that.

We ran a few tests and found the kill switch correctly blocked our internet if the VPN connection dropped.

We did notice problems in some extreme situations. If one of Mozilla's Windows services fails, for instance, protection is lost but the kill switch doesn't kick in. The app warns the user about the disconnection but there's a chance their identity and some traffic will be exposed.

Problems like this aren't common and while you may never encounter them in real-world use, they suggest Mozilla's Windows app isn't the best at handling unusual network conditions. We're left wondering what other issues might be lurking under the hood.

Mozilla VPN Mac App

The Mac app looks like the Windows build, and offers some useful touches (Image credit: Mozilla)

Mac app

Mozilla VPN's Mac app looks and feels almost identical to the Windows version and that's both good and bad. On the plus side, it's exceptionally consistent. Learn how the app works on one platform and you'll have no problem using it on the other. On the downside, it means the Mac inherits all the same Windows limitations. There's no 'Fastest server' option to automatically choose the best location, no Favorites system, and no choice of protocol, for instance. It's also missing Mozilla's 'App Exclusions' split tunneling feature.

The app does have a few interesting touches. It also includes Mozilla's effective ad, tracker, and malicious website blocking DNS. It can also give you notifications if you connect to unsecured Wi-Fi. Other apps go further – the best VPN software can automatically connect when you access untrusted networks – but these are still features worth having.

Put it all together, and although it's not exactly powerful, this is a decent Mac app. It's simple to use and worked well for us. It connected quickly and delivered decent performance all-round.

Mozilla VPN Android App

Mozilla VPN's Android app is very much built the same as the Windows client (Image credit: Mozilla)

Mobile apps

The Mozilla Android and iOS apps are near clones of the desktop builds, easy to use but with few features.

Browsing the menus, we managed to spot some differences between the desktop clients. For example, the Android app supports the split tunneling feature which isn't supported on Mac, allowing you to choose specific apps that won't have their traffic routed through the VPN.

The iOS app doesn't have split tunneling (not Mozilla's fault, it's not supported on iOS), but you do still get ad, malware, and tracker blocking DNS and some basic notification settings.

Mozilla's mobile apps aren't exactly exciting then, but like the rest of the range, they're not bad either. They all do a reasonable job of the VPN essentials, and if that's all you need, they might be good enough.

Speedtest.net performance benchmark

Mozilla VPN put in an okay performance in our speed testing (Image credit: Speedtest.net)

Performance

Mozilla focuses more on security and privacy than website unblocking, and our tests reflected that. The service didn't get us access to BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, or Netflix in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, or Japan.

There were one or two successes in particular countries. Mozilla got us into ITV and Channel 4 in the UK, for instance, as well as Australia's 9 Now.

Not a total disaster, then, but Mozilla is trailing far behind the best providers. ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Private Internet Access, ProtonVPN, PureVPN, and Surfshark all unblocked every one of our test platforms in their last reviews.

Our performance tests found Mozilla's WireGuard-powered download speeds peaked at 360Mbps. That's far behind the likes of NordVPN, Surfshark, and Windscribe. All these VPNs reached 950Mbps+ in their last tests. If your regular internet connections only ever reach a fraction of that speed, or you're using a VPN to protect normal browsing or streaming, Mozilla VPN is fast enough.

The company ended on a positive note in our final privacy checks, as multiple test sites found Mozilla VPN blocked all DNS and WebRTC leaks.

Mozilla VPN review: Final verdict

Mozilla VPN might appeal to fans of the company, and those who'd prefer a VPN from a well-known and trusted name. However, it can't match top providers like ExpressVPN and NordVPN in features, apps, locations, range of plans, or unblocking.  Demanding users will be happier elsewhere. 

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